May Meetup recap
Algorithmic trading in Java, using Opt4J, and Watchmaker libraries -evolving algorithms George Church -synthetic biology pioneer -EDITAS company -KRISPR protein http://arep.med.harvard.edu/gmc/ Personal Genome Project at Harvard medical-publicly available data http://www.personalgenomes.org/ On the horizon: APP allelic variant protects against Alzheimer's and reduces cognitive decline. Can we use gene therapy here, either specifically in brain tissue or whole organism? Multi-allelic gene therapy on mouse embryos has now been done using viral vectors -past: adenovirus problems (Jesse Gelsinger) Genetic engineering will be focused on maladies first, then enhancements. In the transhumanist view, there are maladies/limitations inherent in the human condition. Our inborn traits/tendencies are anachronistic. We have misplaced and inefficient incentives and motivations. How can we decrease irrational, and increase rational thinking. So much of our thinking and behavior is based on copying, and borrowing behaviors from others without question. How can we leverage irrational self-interest to educate out of irrationality? Improved education? Game theory? With GE are we heading into speciation? Or past it, where all genetics is just information which can be recombined at will? Will the enhanced treat the non-enhanced like dogs/pets because they will be so far advanced? It may not necessarily be a bad thing... Humans love our dogs, relate in a certain way, and have evolved a symbiosis. Communication technologies are improving rapidly, leading to greater collaboration in networks. How much farther could we go in enhancing communication, collaboration through biological improvements using GE? How about engineering pheromone receptors and augmenting that sense for enhanced communication? GMO foods? There are questions that are still beyond our knowledge, whose consequences we will not know for some time. This issue of course is highly politicized and involves not just science but food security and the question of who 'owns' nature's genetic information. Cognitive enhancement Our intelligence is a main limiting factor in formulating and understanding solutions to complex global problems, much less enacting these solutions. Mentoring should be improved to help others develop their ideas and bring them into the world. There is a danger in exporting the American model of innovation and business all over the world. We must question our assumptions. The question of studying our brains in great detail, and of developing implants etc. is essentially one of how to interface with neurons in a reliable and high resolution way. This is where we are stymied presently. Singularity Summit 2009 talk by Pete Estep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lKy3e_EAiE Interesting article: Marblestone, Adam 2013 Physical principles for scalable neural recording The global futurist 2045 talks are an excellent resource. How should we exercise our restraint? Experiments in GE will affect all life on earth, how can we weigh risk versus benefit? We lack the intelligence to make decisions on this scale. Mistakes lead to learning, but as mistakes get bigger they get more consequential. People are very willing to take risks as individuals, to be experimented on, get implants etc. Some of these issues are dealt with in anime (notable titles is are Akira, Ghost in the Shell, My Neighbor Totoro, Dragonball Z) Hayao Miyazaki - famous animator http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/miyazaki/ The books Angry Red Planet and Sphere also address some of these issues.